<confused></confused>

On thinking in HTML tags

Every once in a while I have a moment where I realize what a geek I truly am. Sometimes I catch myself thinking in HTML, and I have to slap myself. For example, I’ll be writing a paper and instead of reaching for the italic and bold buttons, I’ll just start entering in <em></em> and <strong></strong> tags. Or while I’m talking, I’ll slip into a sort of italic mode. Or I’ll use fake HTML tags in writing: <sullen></sullen>. In my own mind I’ll be envisioning the tag that should appear, down to the paragraph breaks. Sometimes, just for fun, I’ll throw in a horizontal rule. If I’m feeling really anal, I’ll even come up with a percentage of how far it should stretch across my brain.

This can become quite distracting when you’re trying to hold a conversation with someone, causing uncomfortable silences in which you silently whisper “hr, width equals 50 percent” and “br,” and your companion thinks you're insane. If they’re nerdy enough and they like you, they’ll sometimes respond with sweet nothings of their own, like “blockquote.” If you’re on a date, they might talk about your hot “body” - don’t be misled when they add in a “bgcolor.” On the other hand, I’ve heard other people using aol-speak in conversation. Look how nicely “wtf” can stand in for what it really means. And besides, why laugh out loud when you can “lol”? All you pedestrians who defy me, I am lol at you. All this stuff makes me *drool*.

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Name crazy
Why are people so obsessed with the meaning of names?